Ocearch, a group that tags and researches great white sharks, says they have made a groundbreaking discovery off the New York coast.

Bruce Sweet/www.SportFishi­ngMA.com/AP/File

A juvenile great white shark swims in the Atlantic Ocean about 20 miles off the coast of Gloucester, Mass., June 26, 2010. Researchers with Ocearch say they have discovered the first ever great white shark nursery off of New York's Long Island.

Mary Lee, a 16-feet long, 3,456-pound female tagged by Ocearch in 2012, returned to New York waters in May, suggesting to researchers that this area may be a favored birthing location.

“This is a really unique population of animals,” said Haley Newton, a veterinary pathologist with the Wildlife Conservation Society who has been involved with the research. “It’s a life stage that really hasn’t been studied very much.”

Ocearch tracks sharks by putting GPS tags on their dorsal fins, so each time a shark’s dorsal fin comes above the water, the location is pinned to the Ocearch database. The group’s researchers say attaching the tags is painless for the sharks and only lasts 15 minutes from start to finish. And tagging a few individuals helps researchers protect the entire shark population, adds Fischer.

Over the course of five days, Ocearch installed GPS transmitters on nine pups. Of those, five are currently living along the Long Island coast, including a 42-pound male named Hampton and a 50-pound female named Montauk. Ocearch expects the pups to stay in the general location until they reach adulthood at age 20.